News of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s rally served as an interesting addition to midterm week at VCU.
News of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s rally served as an interesting addition to midterm week at VCU. Students were understandably overwhelmed when the news caught wind, but that didn’t stop them from organizing a protest of the conservative candidate.
One student in particular, Camila Grez-Messina, was especially moved by Trump, who addressed thousands of local residents at the Richmond Raceway Complex Wednesday night.
“I’d seen other protesters at other college campuses,”said Grez-Messina, who identifies as non-binary. “There were pro-immigration protesters outside of the [Donald Trump] rally and they were being harassed and heckled. I was like, ‘No, they can’t stop us by doing these petty little passive aggressive actions.’ We’re a big community [and] we’re not going to let that stop us.”
“We want to make our presence known. We want them to know that the people there supporting him don’t represent Richmond- that’s a small, small portion,” they said. “We’re not going to stand for that bigotry; Richmond is not about that.”
The biggest issue for the activists, who aimed to “disrupt Trump,” is the xenophobia and racism associated with the candidate.
During his first campaign announcement speech in June, Trump said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
“As a Latinx immigrant myself, you can’t help but feel personally attacked,” said Grez-Messina. “He targeted Mexicans specifically, but those are still our brothers and sisters and we have to stand with them.”
Grez-Messina also stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. They referenced an interview Trump did with Bill O’Reilly on his show “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox in September on the subject:
“I think they’re trouble…” Trump told O’Reilly. I saw them with hate coming down the street last week talking about cops and police, and what should be done to them. And that was not good. And I think it’s a disgrace that they’re getting away with it.”
While frantic video from Wednesday’s protest made the event look a bit thrown together, there was a level of planning for the disruption.
The level of intensity was discussed because of past Trump supporters’ reactions to similar displays. At a Trump rally in Iowa earlier this summer, a West Des Moines woman ripped an Iowa State student’s sign in half.
“The student [in Iowa] was being peaceful,” said Grez-Messina. The sign read ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the thing that matter.’
Erin Della Puca, a junior English major at VCU, said that she has been to several protests as a member of the environmental coalition and has “never been in a situation where everyone was so ready to be violent.”
“We were peaceful- but everyone else was just ready to {to be} violent towards us,” she said.
Camille Spencer, junior Environmental Studies major at VCU, knew she was going to be singled out as she protested, but not for a physical fight.
“I’ve been to multiple protests,” she said. As a woman of color, she thought she would stand out among the mostly-white Trump crowd in attendance. “I [always] take the opportunity to be the minority to tell people that we don’t stand for what they’re doing.”
She added they were almost immediately identified as anti-Trump when they arrived and were told they couldn’t have their hand-made signs.
“two blonde girls with hand-made signs walked in and no one said anything,” said Grez-Messina, questioning the sign policy’s consistency.
A level of aggression was reached when the group unfurled a homemade flag which hoped to block national cameras from broadcasting Trump’s speech. Their pro-immigration acton began when Trump started talking about building a wall between Mexico and the US.
“People who didn’t even work there were trying to push us out,” said Della Puca.
Spencer nearly got into a physical altercation with a Trump supporter at the rally.
“I saw who they were trying to target and I was trying to physically get in-between them, and a woman came up to me and asked if I was a Trump supporter,” said Spencer. “Emphatically, I said no and she told me to leave… and then she started to grab my shoulder, trying to get physical with me…”
Immigration activists disrupt Trump rally. He gamely continues, but crowd raged. One spit on protestors @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/82T2s845Eu
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) October 14, 2015
Jasmine Fears, Sophomore English major at VCU got the brunt of the aggression. Still shaken up by the event, she opted not to be quoted directly, but her counterparts gave their explanation of what happened.
“Jas had been doing that all night,” Spencer said. “If someone was starting to get physical she would step in to say that it wasn’t alright.”
According to the group, the woman that had begun to get physical with Spencer then turned her attention to Fears, shoving her. Fears then responded with the same action in self-defense, and was reprimanded.
“I remember my hands being [held] behind my back and seeing Jas get thrown to the ground by these two police officers,” said Spencer.
Video of Trump supporters spitting and yelling at protestors have already hit the web. Check out some of the videos below:
Trump supporter spits & curses at protester as protesters are escorted from @realDonaldTrump event in Richmond, VA pic.twitter.com/1GunaUweNW
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) October 15, 2015
Immigration activists disrupt Trump rally. He gamely continues, but crowd raged. One spit on protestors @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/82T2s845Eu
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) October 14, 2015
A number of national publications have since picked up the protest story, Trump continues his nation wide campaign tour with a date in Anderson, SC, on 10/19.
